Magical Mishaps
by Jasper'sBaltimoreBabe
Summary: Possessed pumpkins, a howling knight, an evil witch, and dancing skeletons. Yep, it's just another All Hallows' Eve in Camelot, all thanks to Merlin. "I enchanted one pumpkin! The other things weren't my fault!" Please review!


**A/N: Since Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday, I decided to write a little one-shot! Please enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin.  
**

Merlin was in good spirits. Tonight was all Hallows' Eve, a time for celebrating the harvest and a time when his magic never felt stronger. Gaius, of course, warned him of the latter.

"Now, Merlin," the old man warned, his voice stern, "You need to keep your magic under control. Camelot isn't like Ealdor; the smallest trace of magic, and your head will be on the chopping block."

Merlin reminisced about how Will had once (or twice…or six times…) convinced him to levitate all the sheep in the village. His mother was furious at him while all the farmers jumped desperately into the air, reaching for their hovering flocks. Returning to the present, Merlin sighed, "I know, Gaius." He had heard this speech a thousand times since his arrival in Camelot. "You don't need to worry; I'm always careful." He smiled reassuringly.

"That's what concerns me," Gaius said, turning back to the books in front of him.

Merlin frowned as he left for Arthur's chambers.

"Why doesn't anyone ever have any faith in me?" Merlin muttered. "I'm not an idiot."

"Are you sure?" came the familiar response behind him, and Merlin whirled around to see Arthur walking towards him, an amused smirk on the prince's face.

"At least I'm not a prat," Merlin retorted when Arthur stopped in front of him.

Arthur's smirk didn't falter. "But I'm the prat who gets to order you around. That being said, my plans for today have changed…"

Merlin wondered how this would affect him.

"My father wants to speak with me, so I will not be training with my knights."

_Thank god, _Merlin thought. The last thing he wanted was to watch Arthur show off how skilled he was in battle.

"So you will need to clean my room and do my laundry; I need clean clothes for tonight's feast," Arthur ordered.

"Yes, _sire_," Merlin replied.

"Good," Arthur said, ignoring the sarcasm in his servant's voice. "And I want everything to be done by the time I get back," he added as he walked away.

Merlin didn't feel too worried about getting his chores done. For once the prat hadn't given him fifty chores to do, and it's not like he was tediously polishing armor. Wash a few shirts, scrub a few floorboards…With magic, it would take no time.

However, when Merlin opened the door to Arthur's room, he let out a shocked gasp. The entire room was one big mess of clothes, armor, and god only knows what else. He carefully stepped inside and closed the door behind him, eyeing the disaster before him warily. No way could this have been from Arthur's laziness of putting his own stuff away.

No, Arthur did this just to spite Merlin.

"Clot pole," Merlin muttered before stretching his hand towards the mess. _"Áfeorme béodærn."_

"You wished to speak to me, Father?" Arthur asked, standing before Uther.

"Yes. As you know, tonight is All Hallows' Eve, and it is a prime time for sorcerers to cause mayhem in our kingdom," Uther said.

"Right," Arthur replied vaguely. Since discovering that Merlin was a sorcerer, magic was the least of Arthur's concerns. Nothing was funnier than the look on Merlin's face when the prince had confronted him. Like Arthur was oblivious enough to think that the multiple attempts on his life were thwarted by sheer dumb luck! After enjoying the terror on Merlin's face for a few moments, he had promised Merlin that he would never let anyone hurt him.

"I want the guards around the castle doubled, and the night patrols as well," Uther ordered, bringing Arthur back to the present.

"I'll see to it," Arthur said.

Just then, Lady Morgana walked in, wearing her brilliant emerald dress and holding a little bundle of fur in her arms.

"Morgana, what is _that_?" Arthur asked, staring at his adopted sister.

"It's a kitten, Arthur," Morgana said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He followed me in from the garden. I think he likes me." She smiled as she affectionately stroked the softly purring black furball.

Uther shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Are you going to keep it?"

"Of course!" Morgana replied. "He's so cute. I shall name him…" She thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "Salem! I'll name him Salem. What do you think?" she crooned to the cat.

He blinked his overly large eyes at Morgana and gave a little mewl.

"Perfect! He likes it!"

"Since when can you speak cat?" Arthur asked dubiously.

"Oh, and you can?" she shot back. "Just ignore the mean little boy," she told Salem, whose eyes were the exact green of her dress. With her dress, her eyes, and the cat's eyes, Arthur felt like it was St. Patrick's Day, but he knew it wasn't since he was still sober.

"Morgana, I don't think it's a good idea to have that- that _thing_ in the castle," Uther said.

"And why not?" she asked defiantly.

"Cats, particularly black ones, are a well-known symbol of witchcraft!" Uther said, getting ready for one of his "Magic is evil and must be destroyed" speeches.

"Oh, please," Morgana said incredulously. "He's just a harmless little kitten." And with that she flounced out of the room, cradling the kitten like a child, leaving behind a bewildered Arthur and a nervous Uther.

Merlin was quite content with his accomplishment of cleaning Arthur's room. Not a single stray item laid in the room, and he had even finished the laundry. He lounged in Arthur's large chair, feet on the table, not caring if the prat walked in and saw his manservant's insolent action.

A knock on the door, however, caused Merlin to fall out of the chair onto the floor in his attempt to quickly get out of the Prince's chair. His breathing returned to normal when he saw Guinevere's face peek around the door. "Arthur?"

"Arthur's…out," Merlin said, drawing the maid's attention to the floor.

"Oh, hi, Merlin," she replied, her brow furrowed at his unusual antics. "Um…Can you give this to Arthur for me?" It was then that Merlin saw she was holding a jack-o' -lantern.

Merlin scrambled to his feet and took the decoration from her. "I'll see that he gets it," he said, smiling.

She smiled back, trusting Merlin to deliver her gift to him. After she had left the room, he placed the pumpkin on the table and lit the candle inside of it. The carved face, with its triangular eyes and crooked smile seemed less than menacing. But it was missing something…

Merlin's eyes flashed gold as he spoke another incantation. "_Áflíehe_."

The pumpkin rose a foot in the air, and Merlin anticipated the look on Arthur's face. What Merlin didn't anticipate was the jack-o' -lantern to suddenly spin in the air and then launch towards him. Merlin ducked just before it crashed into his head. The pumpkin turned around, its features in a scowl, and suddenly a burst of flame erupted from its mouth. Merlin yelped, jumping out of the way of the plume of fire, and the pumpkin growled viciously. The young warlock didn't even know that pumpkins _could _growl, let alone viciously. The possessed jack-o' -lantern was relentless in its attack against poor Merlin, who ran about the room, dodging certain death by incineration. After he had hurtled over Arthur's rather large bed, he sough refuge under it, the pumpkin howled with annoyance and proceeded to incinerate the royal sheets.

Just then the Prince himself entered the room.

"Well, Merlin, I'm pleased to see that- WHAT THE HELL?" Arthur whipped out his sword at the sight of the floating decoration, and it broke off its assault against the manservant to attack the Prince. It easily dodged Arthur's sword, and flew out into the corridor, cackling merrily.

Arthur turned to Merlin, who was climbing out from under the bed.

"What the hell was that?" Arthur asked angrily.

"It was, uh, Gwen's present to you," Merlin replied hesitantly. He turned to the fire that was consuming Arthur's bed. "_Ácwence._"

"Why do I get the feeling that it wasn't attacking anyone when she brought it here?" he asked, running a hand over his face.

"So I may have…_added_ something to it," Merlin said with a little shrug.

"'Added'? It was breathing fire!" Arthur shouted.

"I don't know what happened! I'm sure it was the right incantation!" Merlin defended himself. "But if you have failed to notice, it is now roaming the castle because _you_ let it get out the door!"

Arthur glared at him and adjusted his sword in his hand. "Let's go."

The duo crept into the hallway, listening for any sound that would alert them to the whereabouts of the rogue pumpkin. Hearing none, they proceeded to search the corridors, finding nothing until they neared the kitchens.

"RUN FOR IT, GIRLS!" one of the cooks screeched, and suddenly four plump women burst from the royal kitchen.

"What is going on?" Arthur asked, stopping one of them.

"It's the pumpkins, sire!" she said, her eyes wide with fear. "They've come to life!"

As she and the others stampeded down the hallway, Arthur gave Merlin a withering look.

"Seeing as this is your fault, I think you should be the one to go in first." Arthur gave him a little nudge towards the kitchen.

"But- but- but-" Merlin desperately wracked his brain for an excuse not to go in there.

Just as Arthur was about to forcibly throw Merlin into the room, the kitchen doors burst open and ten pumpkins flew out, laughing gleefully. When they spied the prince and his servant, their smiles took on a sinister look.

"Arthur?" Merlin asked uncertainly.

"Run!" the prince shouted.

The two turned tail and raced down the hallway, the pumpkins hot on their trail.

"Down here!" Arthur said, and grabbed Merlin's arm, pulling him sharply into an adjacent corridor. The pumpkins passed them, looking for new prey.

"What are we going to do?" Merlin panted.

"Well since you're the one with magic," Arthur snapped, "You should figure something out!"

"I need my spell book," Merlin told him.

"Fine. You go look up your hocus-pocus counter-curse, and I'll see what my knights can do."

Merlin made his way to back to Gaius' apartment as Arthur rounded up his knights. "Hurry, Merlin," the young warlock muttered to himself, flipping through his spell book, trying to find the spell. When he came to the page that spoke of levitation, he groaned. "I can't believe I got the spell for "levitate" mixed up with "fly"!"

Suddenly the warning bell started tolling.

"Merlin, do you know what's going on?" Gaius walked into his ward's room, eyeing him suspiciously.

Merlin closed the book. "Uh, I do, and I know how to fix it!"

Gaius shook his head. "I told you to be careful!"

Merlin got up and ran past Gaius. "And I will be!"

Just then Arthur entered the room. "Gaius, come quickly!"

Gaius and Merlin froze. "What's happened?"

"The knights are saying that something is wrong with Leon."

The three of them shared a worried glance. Out of all the Knights of Camelot, Sir Leon was the most well-liked…Well, next to Arthur, of course.

Gaius grabbed his satchel of remedies and Arthur led him and Merlin down to the armory. Before they were able to enter, one of the guards appeared.

"Sire, I cannot allow you to go in! It's too dangerous!"

"What's happening?" Arthur asked.

"Leon has…" The guard hesitated, unsure of how to describe the situation.

"What's happened to Leon?" Arthur asked again, drawing out his sword.

A sudden growling answered Arthur's question, and several knights knocked him and the guard over as they scrambled to flee from the room. The guard fled with them and Arthur carefully crept into the room, Merlin and Gaius behind him. What they saw shocked them all: a large beast was standing in the middle of the room, dark fur covering its body, and the red cape of a knight still hung around its shoulders.

"Leon?" Merlin asked quietly, and the beast focused its yellow eyes on them, growling.

"Merlin, shut up," Arthur whispered harshly, and the beast let out a piercing howl.

Arthur shoved Merlin and Gaius back through the door and shut it, Merlin locking it magically as they heard the beast barking ferociously after them.

"What has happened to him?" Arthur asked Gaius in disbelief.

"I believe, sire, that Sir Leon is a werewolf," the physician answered, looking through his book, _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_.

"What will we do?" Merlin asked. "We can't kill him; it's Leon."

"I'll try to make the wolfsbane potion. That's the only known cure for lycanthropy." He put the book back in his satchel. "Good luck keeping him in there."

Merlin and Arthur stared after Gaius as he left them.

"He could get _out_?" Arthur asked incredulously.

"God, Leon was a force to be reckoned with as a human. As a wolf…" Merlin shuddered at the thought.

The door shook violently, a vicious snarling coming from within.

"We need to subdue him," Merlin stated matter-of-factly.

"Thanks for the insight, _Mer_lin," Arthur replied sarcastically. "Please tell me you know a spell that will knock him out."

"I think so," Merlin said.

"Good. Then go in and do it."

Merlin sighed, and stepped towards the door.

"On the count of three, I'll open it, and you go in," Arthur said.

Merlin nodded and unlocked the door.

"Okay. One…two…three!" Arthur threw open the door, and Merlin rushed inside. He, however, was shocked to see a seemingly empty room, until the door slammed closed behind him and he turned around to be face-to-face with a very pissed-off werewolf.

Merlin took a few steps back. "Leon, I don't want to hurt you," he tried to reason.

The beast stalked Merlin across the room, and with a vicious growl lunged.

"_Swefe!_"

Just inches from Merlin, Leon fell limply on the floor, his chest rising and falling deeply with sleep.

"Thank god," a voice across the room said, and Merlin looked up to see Arthur.

"Thanks for helping," Merlin said sarcastically. "He nearly killed me!"

"Well, I didn't want to hurt him," Arthur said as he and Merlin made their way out of the room. "And it looked like you had things under control."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "Of course I did." He closed the door and locked it once more.

"Now that he's contained, we must stop those pumpkins," Arthur reminded him.

The two made their way towards the center of the castle, where much screaming was heard. They saw several servants being chased by one of the demon pumpkins.

Merlin raised his hand, about to stop the pumpkin, but Arthur forced his hand down.

"_Idiot! _You can't do magic in front of all these people! What if my father finds out?" Arthur barked at his servant. "We need to get them rounded up into one room. _Then_ you can turn them back to normal."

Merlin realized Arthur had a point. The two began to formulate a plan on how to drive the jack-o'-lanterns into one room, but were interrupted by a frantic Guinevere.

"Arthur! Merlin!" she ran towards them, breathing hard.

Arthur steadied her, hands on her shoulders. "Guinevere, what's wrong?"

"It's Morgana," she panted. "I don't know what to do!"

"What's wrong with Morgana?" Merlin asked.

"She was acting fine, playing with her new kitten, but when I returned to her room-" she broke off, too shocked to continue.

"Please, Guinevere, tell me what's happened," Arthur asked softly.

Just then a sudden shrill laugh echoed throughout the hallway, and the three jumped out of the way, falling to the floor, as a figure on a broom raced past them. She halted her broom and turned to them.

"May magic return to Camelot this All Hallows' Eve!" Morgana shouted, wearing a long black dress and pointed black hat. "And I've left a little parting gift in the dungeons for you," she added with a sly grin. "Come, Salem! We must alert Morgause!"

It was then that they saw the little black kitten sitting on the bristles of the broom. With a final cackle, she flew down the hallway and out into the dark night.

"What's in the dungeons?" Gwen asked worriedly as Arthur helped her up.

"We'll handle it. Just get yourself somewhere safe," he advised her. "Come on, Merlin!"

Arthur and Merlin were once again running through the halls when a knight suddenly approached them.

"The King is in need of help!"

"Where is he?" Arthur asked.

"He's in the throne room. He's going out of his mind, sire," the knight informed him.

"Show me," Arthur instructed, and the knight led him and Merlin to the throne room, where Uther was currently standing on his throne, whimpering at the swarm of black cats that surrounded him, eyeing him with interest, their cries filling the room.

"Where did they all come from?" Merlin asked.

"Morgana, no doubt," Arthur replied. He turned to the knight. "Get the hunting dogs up here and release them on the cats. That'll get rid of them."

The knight nodded, and with one more (amused) glance at Uther, left.

"It's okay, Father!" Arthur shouted. "You'll be out of here in no time!"

The King paid no heed to his son's words; he just continued to stare at the thirty black cats like they were poisonous snakes. Merlin coughed to cover his laughter.

"It's not funny, _Mer_lin," Arthur snapped.

"No, it's not funny at all," the warlock replied with a shake of his head, but the fleeting flash of gold in his eyes betrayed his words. "Perhaps we should find the pumpkins?"

"Very good idea," Arthur replied.

A servant suddenly ran up to them. "Sire! The knights are asking for your assistance!"

"_What could it possibly be now?_" Arthur asked through clenched teeth.

"They're in the dungeons. It's skeletons, my lord. Dancing…skeletons."

Arthur looked as though he wanted to punch the boy, but thought better of it. Instead, he punched Merlin in the arm and sighed, "Let's go."

They raced through the winding corridors and staircases (Merlin was quite tired of running by this time), and they came across the knights, shields and swords held defensively in front of them as they were backed into a corner by seven skeletons doing pirouettes; they were even wearing tutus!

"Enough is enough!" Arthur shouted. "I give up! This is complete and utter madness!"

"We can't give up, Arthur," Merlin objected.

"Merlin, tonight I have seen fire-breathing pumpkins, my best knight turned into a dog, my sister is a crazy witch, and my father is being terrorized by cats! And now my knights are trying to defend themselves against dancing skeletons! Let's face it- the fight is over." He shook his head.

"Over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

Merlin and Arthur jumped by the voice that sounded behind them. They turned to see a slightly drunken man wearing a sweater that said "College."

"It wasn't over then, and it's not over now!" he continued.

Arthur and Merlin's mouths were agape.

"Oi! You!" Suddenly another man came out of nowhere. "What did I tell you about touching the controls?" This man was wearing a suit with white sneakers. He grabbed the arm of the first man and dragged him back towards a large purple police box that was not there five minutes before.

"Sorry about the intrusion," the second man said. "_Never_ turn your back on the boys in a fraternity. Good luck with those skeletons!" he added cheerfully.

And with that, the two men walked into the police box, and with a strange, screeching sound, it vanished.

"I think you may have a point about giving up," Merlin said, recovering from his speechlessness.

"No, Merlin, we're not giving up. I think we're far enough away from them for you to cast a spell on those skeletons without being seen."

"Are you sure?" Merlin asked.

"Get on with it!" Arthur growled.

Merlin crept a little closer to the group of cowering knights and said, "_Áciere slæp._"

The skeletons stopped their ballet moves and were reduced to a pile of bones. The knights looked around for their savior, but Arthur had already grabbed Merlin's arm and was dragging him back up the stairs to finally put an end to the pumpkins' rampage.

"Let's split up; that way we can cover more ground and we can force the pumpkins to go where we want them," Arthur said.

"Okay," Merlin agreed, and in less than ten minutes, the two of them had successfully wrangled the possessed squash with only a broom and Morgana's hairbrush (don't ask how it worked.) They now had them trapped in a room.

"_Extis!_" Merlin shouted, his eyes glowing gold, and the pumpkins exploded, coating the entire room in pumpkin pieces.

"Merlin," Arthur began calmly, "Was it always your intent to cause them to explode?"

"I couldn't find a spell that would turn them back to normal," Merlin admitted, wiping orange goop from his face. He looked at Arthur, who was also covered with the remains of their foes. "You have a little-"

"Yes, I know!" Arthur shouted, wiping the disgusting bits of the pumpkin from his face. "You truly are an idiot!"

Merlin looked away from him and cast his gaze about the room. "Well, what shall we do about the mess?" He gestured to the almost completely covered walls…and floor…and ceiling.

"I can think of something," a quiet voice said behind them, and they turned to see Gwen and the plump cooks from the kitchen sharing a smile.

"Well, the skeletons are dead, Morgana is banished from the kingdom, Leon is his human self (although he's complaining about fleas), and Gaius has given my father a sedative, although he's now determined to drive out every black cat from the land. But Camelot is safe once more," Arthur informed Merlin. "And have you tried this pie? Guinevere is certainly an excellent cook."

"No, I haven't," Merlin replied bitterly. "When can I stop being your footstool?" he asked the Prince.

Arthur shifted his feet on Merlin's back, causing his servant to almost collapse. "When I'm done with this pie." He took another bite and sighed contently.

"My arms are hurting," Merlin groaned.

"That's what you get for what you caused last night," Arthur said.

"I enchanted one pumpkin! The other things weren't my fault!"

"I suppose," Arthur replied absentmindedly. "Oh, and Gaius mentioned something about you cleaning his leech tank."

Merlin sighed heavily.

This was the worst All Hallows' Eve ever.

**The End**

**A/N: Loved it? Hated it? Please tell me in a review! **

**Oh, and fifty points to whoever can point out my Harry Potter, Doctor Who, or Animal House reference. ;) **

**Happy Halloween!  
**


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